Lazos de Agua Program to Bring Safe Water Access & Resources to more than 200,000 citizens across Latin America

One Drop, the Inter-American Development Bank, The Coca-Cola Foundation and FEMSA Foundation investing US$25 million to support water programs across five countries

LAS VEGAS, March 3, 2017 – One Drop, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), The Coca-Cola Foundation and FEMSA Foundation, today announced a US$25 million initial investment in Lazos de Agua, an initiative to provide 200,000 citizens with access to safe and affordable water, hygiene and improved sanitation services (WASH) in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia and Paraguay by 2021.

Lazos de Agua has a unique approach to promote behavioral change in adopting adequate water usage and hygiene practices through social arts. Combined with infrastructure and technical training and access to capital, the program uses The ABC approach that combines three key components:

• Access: Financing infrastructure projects.

• Behavior: Fostering community mobilization and encouraging dialogue around culturally sensitive subjects to increase the awareness and change behaviors of habits on water usage and sanitation.

• Capital: Granting access to technical training and financial support to enable households to benefit from market-based solutions

The Coca Cola Foundation and FEMSA Foundation have committed together to US$10 million. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has committed up to US$5 million, of which $2.5 million has already been approved as technical cooperation in Paraguay and Nicaragua. One Drop and its donors will invest US$10 million over the same period.

Lazos de Agua will double down on the ABC approach in a transformative way. It is clear that constructing water and sanitation facilities, while critically important, is not enough to transform the lives of the beneficiaries. Most WASH projects typically emphasize infrastructure, and neglect the social or behavioral dimensions that have a significant impact on building awareness and supporting community adoption. This program aims to invest in sustainable, effective long-term solutions for communities to improve health and, in turn, foster community advancement.

Today, approximately 36 million people lack access to safe drinking water and more than 100 million lack access to adequate sanitation across Latin America and the Caribbean. By providing access to WASH services, Lazos de Agua programs will support reducing these figures in at risk communities and will also serve as a key opportunity to reduce mortality rates among newborns and toddlers in5 countries.

About One Drop:

ONE DROP™ is an international non-profit organization created by Cirque du Soleil® Founder Guy Laliberté. At the core of our mission is safe water as a transformative force to improve living conditions, as well as give communities the ability to care for themselves sustainably. We believe in the combined power of safe water while inspiring behaviour change towards water and proper hygiene practices by creating a lasting understanding through social art. To do this, One Drop has developed the unique A∙B∙C for Sustainability™ approach, a winning combination of strategic and operational interventions designed to address sustainable access to safe water and sanitation. To learn more about One Drop, visit www.onedrop.org.

About The Coca-Cola Foundation

The Coca-Cola Foundation is the global philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Company. Since its inception in 1984, the Foundation has awarded more than $900 million in grants to support sustainable community initiatives around the world. For more information about The Coca-Cola Foundation, please visit http://www.coca-colacompany.com/giving-back

About FEMSA Foundation

FEMSA Foundation searches to make a positive impact in people and communities by furthering social investment projects for sustainability.
Its WATER area channels resources to projects focused in the protection water sources and promoting an efficient use the resource, as well as hygiene and sanitation practices not only today, but for future generations. It is divided into three Programs: Watershed Conservation, Water and Sanitation, and Capacity Building and Applied Research.

Its EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT area is dedicated to supporting projects that help children reach their full potential to transform positively their communities, as well as applied research on health.

About FEMSA

FEMSA is a leading company that participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world by volume; and in the beer industry, through its ownership of the second largest equity stake in Heineken, one of the world’s leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. In the retail industry it participates through FEMSA Comercio, comprising a Retail Division operating various small-format store chains including OXXO; a Fuel Division, operating the OXXO GAS chain of retail service stations; and a Health Division, which includes its drugstore and related operations. Additionally, through its Strategic Businesses unit, it provides logistics, point-of-sale refrigeration solutions and plastics solutions to FEMSA`s business units and third-party clients.

About the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

IDB is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Besides loans, grants and guarantees, the IDB conducts cutting-edge research to offer innovative and sustainable solutions to our region’s most pressing challenges. Founded in 1959 to help accelerate progress in its developing member countries, the IDB continues to work every day to improve lives. To learn more visit www.iadb.org